


My First Stakeout (Ages 6 to Adult)

by Aragarna



Category: White Collar
Genre: Family, Fluff, Gen, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-06
Updated: 2014-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-31 03:03:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6452878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aragarna/pseuds/Aragarna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter has a case, and he is determined to solve it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My First Stakeout (Ages 6 to Adult)

It was the night before Christmas. Peter was lying awake in his bed. After the Christmas dinner with their mum and dad, he and his sister Katie were sent to bed while their parents finished the clean-up. As it was already late, the children didn’t protest. But Peter had no intention to sleep.  In the dark of his bedroom, Peter listened to the night, and he was all ears to the sounds of the house. He knew all the noises. Everyone’s footsteps. The steps in the stairs that creaked. The low sound roaring in the pipes when someone was using water. The doors being opened and closed. A house could tell many stories, if you knew how to listen to it. Right now, the house was telling Peter his parents were doing the dishes in the kitchen, and his sister’s breath told him she was asleep.

Peter sneaked out of the bedroom. Slowly, careful not to touch anything or make any sound, Peter went down the corridor leading to the stairs. There, he carefully glanced downstairs, into the hall and the corridor leading to the living room and the other rooms of the house. Once he was sure both his parents were in the kitchen, Peter went down the stairs, as silently as possible, avoiding the creaking steps, and stopping every other step to make sure no one has caught sight of him.

Once downstairs, the living room was directly across the corridor and in two strides, Peter successfully reached the room. There, glittering in the night, the Christmas tree was proudly standing, waiting for Santa’s visit. Peter went around the sofa on the other side of the room and crouched on his feet and hands, he slid behind it to hide. The day before, as he had been playing hide and seek with Katie, he had tried this hiding place, and had very slightly moved the sofa to give himself enough room. Luckily, no one had noticed, and the space was now large enough for Peter to sit there, knees huddled up under his chin. He had chosen this observation point with great care. It was far enough from both the door and the fireplace, hidden by the Christmas tree, that he would be able to see everything without being seen.  
From his hiding, Peter could hear his parents doing the dishes in the kitchen. He couldn’t make out the words, but they seemed in a cheerful mood, and in no particular hurry to go to bed, despite the imminence of Santa’s visit – if Santa actually planned to visit at all, which was the reason of Peter’s secret investigation.

It had all started last year, shortly after Christmas. Peter and his family had visited his grandparents, and there were presents for them under his grandparents’ tree. This didn’t seem logical to Peter. Why would Santa visit them, deliver Christmas presents at their home, and then other presents at Grandpa and Granma? The second clue happened a few days later, when an aunt Peter didn’t know well visited them and Peter and Katie were asked to thank her for the presents Santa had delivered at her place. Why would Santa deliver gifts from them at that aunt’s? And why were they supposed to say thank you to her for presents brought by Santa?  
Peter had let it go at the time, but as Christmas approached once again, he thought about it again and decided to look deeper into the matter.

\----------------------------------------  


  
One night, Peter was sat up in his bed, his favorite book – the one about dinosaurs – on his lap. Ever since the visit with his class to the Museum of Natural History in New York, he was fascinated by those giant animals. Well, there were some dinosaurs that were small, but Peter preferred the big ones. That night though, Peter wasn’t paying much attention to the book. He was thinking about Santa.

When his mum came in to kiss him a good night, Peter had looked at her with a serious expression on his face.

“Mum, how many people are in the world?”

“About four billions. Why?”

“And Santa visits all of them?”

His mum laughed quietly. “Yes, Sweetie, all of them.”

“In one night?” Peter frowned.

“He’s very quick.”

“And he transports all the gifts in his sleigh? That’s very heavy for the reindeers.”

“It’s a magic sleigh with magic reindeers.”

Peter pulled a face, unconvinced.

He tried another approach. “Jimmy says they don’t have a chimney, but Santa still comes.”

“Santa always finds a way in, of course, even if there’s no chimney.”

“So anyone could enter Jimmy’s home?”

“Oh no, Peter, don’t worry, only Santa can come in. Why are you asking all those questions?”

Peter shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s… weird.”

\----------------------------------------  


  
Strangely, adults seemed always reluctant to talk seriously about Santa and what really happened at Christmas. Like, why children _had_ to go to bed before Santa’s visit. What would happen if they met him? There was something fishy here.

So Peter decided that he would find out by himself. His parents had left the kitchen and were now venturing inside the house, like they were looking for something. His mum went upstairs - the parents' bedroom judging from the crack of the door - while his dad went to the garage. Peter heard them open drawers and cupboards.

Peter was starting to feel hungry. He regretted not having anything to eat. For a moment he thought about trying to go to the kitchen to get a cookie. Maybe he should have kept a piece of his devilled ham sandwich his mum made him when they went back from playing in the park earlier today.

His dad came back first, and he entered the living room. Peter made himself the smallest possible in his hiding spot. And that’s when he saw it. His father had his arms full of packages wrapped in colorful paper. He started putting the packages around the Christmas tree. Peter’s pressed his two hands on his mouth. His mum came in with even more presents and together, his parents arranged them all below the Christmas tree.

Peter didn’t know what he should do now, but he couldn’t resist the impulse and he jumped from behind the sofa, a look of victory plastered all over his face.

“Peter!” “What are you doing here?” his parents yelled at once.

“I knew it!” Peter shouted. “I knew it! So Santa doesn’t exist?”

“shhh… Don’t wake up your sister,” his mum hissed.

His dad looked at her and they exchanged a smile and shrugged in synch.

“Well, Pete,” his dad said. “I guess you caught us. There’s no Santa. Now go back to bed, you won’t have your presents until tomorrow morning. But please, don’t say anything to your sister...”

“Why?”

“Because she still believes in Santa Claus. She’ll learn when she’s old enough. But for now, you need to keep the secret. Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Good, go back to bed now, sweetie.”

Peter complied and run to his bedroom. He had the answer he was looking for. The Santa mystery was solved. Of course, Santa didn’t exist, nothing made sense about that story. Peter admitted it was a cool story though, but it was for little children.  Not for big kids like Peter. Lying in the dark, Peter was too excited to sleep. He was thinking of all those stories the grown-ups keep telling them. Chance was the tooth fairy didn’t exist either. He’ll have to come up with a plan for the next time he’ll lose a tooth.

 

Oh oh oh. The End.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Considering Peter's likely age, I assume this story took place around the 70's. And yes, I did check the world population estimate. 3.7 billions in 1970, 4 billions in 1975. You gotta love internet. ;-)  
> 


End file.
